Episode Details

Episode 259 explores the story of Jesus healing blind men near Jericho and tackles the apparent discrepancy where Matthew records two blind men while Mark and Luke spotlight only Bartimaeus.

The episode explains that the accounts are complementary: Matthew records the total number, Mark and Luke focus on the most notable witness, and historical/contextual details (like two Jerichos) reconcile differences—showing the Gospels offer multiple, harmonious perspectives on the same event.

References to items discussed and/or used on this podcast may be found at the following:

buymeacoffee.com/lancesmith 

The Bible Difficulties and Answers Website

The Bible Difficulties and Answers Facebook Page

Email Address: bibledifficultiesandanswers@gmail.com 

1. Skeptics Annotated Bible: https://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/blindmen.html 
2. GotQuestions.org, “Did Jesus heal two blind men or one blind man?” – https://www.gotquestions.org/one-two-blind-men.html
3. Eric Lyons, “Controversial Jericho,” Apologetics Press – https://apologeticspress.org/controversial-jericho-666/
4. SlimJim, “Bible Contradiction? How many blind men were healed near Jericho?,” Veritas Domain – https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/bible-contradiction-how-many-blind-men-were-healed-near-jericho/
5. Peter Goeman, “Does Blind Bartimaeus Expose a Contradiction in the Gospels?” (2026) – https://petergoeman.com/does-blind-bartimaeus-expose-a-contradiction-in-the-gospels/
6. Good Question Blog, “Why does Matthew say that Jesus healed two blind men...” – https://goodquestionblog.com/2020/07/05/why-does-matthew-say-that-jesus-healed-two-bind-men-outside-jericho-when-mark-and-luke-only-say-one/
7. Dr. Jim, “Two Blind Men Are Healed Near Jericho” – https://drjimsebt.com/2023/06/21/two-blind-men-are-healed-near-jericho/
8. Debie Thomas, “Blind Bartimaeus,” JourneyWithJesus.net – https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/412-blind-bartimaeus